FloWave Facility Holds ‘Doors Open Day’

On Saturday 27th September, the FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility joined colleagues across the University of Edinburgh’s Science and Engineering campus in welcoming members of the public ‘behind closed doors’ for the annual ‘Doors Open Day’.

More than 500 visitors were able to see the test facility being put through its paces, with in-depth explanations by volunteers from FloWave’s Engineering and Management staff.

Visitors had the opportunity to see one of the circular tank’s impressive party tricks – the ‘spike’. However, visitors were also taken on an informative journey through operations at the facility and how it will benefit researchers and developers of clean energy technologies. This included how the tank generates fast currents. It was also demonstrated how the facility combines thousands of simple sine waves together to build a fully controllable ‘random sea’ that is 99.9% representative of real sea conditions.

With visitors of all ages and backgrounds able to visit the research facility, Doors Open Day is one of the two occasions during the year when the FloWave facility is open to members of the general public. It is also an opportunity for FloWave staff to take a step back from the highly technical research being carried out, and to engage with the public.

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